Keystone Pipeline on a path of destruction

If you were going to design an industrial energy project to cause the most extreme environmental damage possible, you probably couldn’t do better than the Keystone XL pipeline.

Here are just a few problems with the Keystone XL:

• This pipeline will carry oil cooked from tar sands strip-mined from virgin forest that would turn a wildlife-rich habitat into a barren moonscape.


• Producing oil from tar sands is a double disaster for global warming. First it destroys the ability of forests to safely store excess carbon pollution out of the atmosphere. Then it burns extra energy - natural gas - to melt the oil out of the tar. All of this means that oil from tar sands emits twice as much carbon pollution as conventional oil.


• The pipeline will cross 70 rivers and streams, including the Missouri, Platte, Yellowstone, and Arkansas. It crosses aquifers on which millions of Americans rely for drinking water and agricultural irrigation. The likelihood of pipeline leaks and spills is near-certain.


Keystone XL is a bad idea being advanced by oil companies, stripminers, and developers who profit from declaring open season on open spaces. Buoyed by billions of dollars in lobbying, many of these proposals are gaining serious consideration in Washington.


Don't you believe that pristine forests, deserts, coasts and other landscapes belong to all of us, to both enjoy and admire?